June 2015

Carter attended the American Fork High School basket ball camp at the beginning of June.  He had a few classmates go as well and bettered his basketball skills.

Annie loves to watch the TV show Cupcake Wars.  The winner of an episode has a local bakery and offered a Cupcake Camp for kids.  Annie was beyond excited to attend!  Georgia went too.  For four days, the girls came home with delicious treats.  They both had a wonderful time!

Tim and I wanted to take our kids on an overnight backpacking trip.  We headed up American Fork Canyon to scope out a spot.  We found the perfect campsite about .25 miles up the trail from the parking lot.  There were varying levels of excitement from the kids!

Our garden has been producing so many beautiful flowers this year.  We delivered these bouquets to some friends who were sick.

I decided to up my "mom-game" this summer and have the kids participate in more household chores this summer.  First on the list was sorting laundry.

Learning how to turn on the washing machine and put in the soap.

 

Sweeping the floors (they are oozing with excitement!)

Cutting up fruit!

Cleaning toilets!

Our garden is really starting to grow!

Carter and I are playing Jenga!  He beats me every time!

The actual backpacking trip up American Fork Canyon - Tibble Fork Resevoir.  The kids had to carry their own back packs with sleeping backs, tents, mess kits and food.  Abby and Georgia shared a tent.    Annie and Carter shared a tent.  It was so fun to hear them chitter/chatter while they were going to sleep.

We played night games.

 I was the fire queen! We had tin-foil dinners...yum!

Everyone was full of smiles and giggles at the end of the camping trip.  Success!

Girls sneaking selfies at the beginning of swim lessons.

We went to get frozen yogurt with aunts/cousins visiting from out of town.  We also went to Extreme Air Sports.  They burned off lots of energy!

Uncle Chris and cousin Sydney came into town for Kaylee's baptism.  We took Sydney to Manila Pond to play in the water.  It was 100 degrees that day and it felt wonderful to cool off.

We took Uncle Chris, Sydney, Jason and Jenny, and Karlsvens to our new favorite camp spot for the afternoon.  We roasted s'mores, played in the stream, and enjoyed the mountains.

Extended Barlow family playing games after Kaylee's baptism.

Lots of flower bouquets from our garden.

I went to Camp Jeremiah Johnson with all the activity day girls.  The girls absolutely LOVE going and everyone was SO well behaved.

Europe 2015

Tim won an incentive trip through work.  This year, we were able to travel to Europe and take a northern Europe cruise.

We flew to London and spent a day and a half touring the city.

Riding the Hop on - Hop Off bus in London.

South Hampton, England - Stonehenge.  I loved the English countryside!  We got on the cruise boat here.

 London Bridge

"Little Venice" of Northern Europe - Bruge, Belgium.

Original Christus statue in Denmark.

Denmark temple

Viking museum in Oslo, Norway

Harbor cruise ride in Oslo.  This boat ride was my very favorite part of the trip.  I loved see the fjords and the colorful homes!  It was very cold and rainy.

Back to London and heading to Westminister Abby.

You're not suppose to take pictures in the Westminister Abby, but I tried to sneak a few.  You can see the lady in the red jacket racing toward me to tell me NO MORE PICTURES!

 Darcy and I enjoyed English donuts!  We finished the cruise and spent an extra day in London.

We went to the Hyde Park Ward in London.  The church is true everywhere!

Buckingham Palace.  The queen was in town, so we couldn't go inside.

We took the chunnel to Paris.

Ms Mona in the Louvre.

Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Best coke during the whole trip!

We worked the museum circuit and it literally wore me out!

We headed out to Normandy, France and had an excellent D-Day tour.  The 71st anniversary was happening the Saturday after we left.  There were a lot os US servicemen touring the sights.  There were also a lot of aircraft flying overhead.

 Omaha Beach - Point de Hoc at high tide.  The US soldiers would come in on man-made causeways to go around all the traps made by the Germans.  They used rope ladders to climb those vertical cliffs.

It was an amazing trip and gave me a greater appreciation for Heavenly Father's creations.  But it is always wonderful to come home!

May 2015

May 2015:

May was filled with lots year-end festivities.

Georgia had her gymnastics recital.  She was full of big smiles, but I don't think we will be going to the Olympics anytime soon!

My garden is starting to bloom!  I planted my flowers and vegetables early this year and was a bit nervous about an unexpected frost.  But Mother Nature helped me out!

The kids had their annual walk/run-a-thon.  Everyone ran their hearts out!

The 5th graders went to Clear Creek.  This was their first overnighter.  There was lots of junk food and a late, sleepless night!

Georgia had crazy-sock day in her class.  She wore Tim's Stockton-to-Malone socks.

Abby and Annie had their overnighter at Clear Creek.  More junk food and a late night!

Carter played soccer this year.  It seemed like all his games were in the rain.  He gave a great effort!

Annie too played soccer!  We spent lots of time cheering in the rain!  They rang in the season with 0-7 record!

This is my annual Mother's Day photo on the front porch.  The kids made me their bookmarks and made me home-made gifts.  My favorite!

We went to the Payson Temple open house.  It was SO beautiful inside!

We went to see Cinderella after school one day.  Abby invited her best friend Larissa.

Tim won another incentive trip through work.  We flew to Europe during the last week of school.  We missed the dance festival, field day and a dance recital.  I'm in the dog house for awhile for missing those!  Pictures to come!